Pandemic recession and helicopter money: Venice, 1629–1631

We analyse the money-financed fiscal stimulus implemented in Venice during the famine and plague of 1629–31, which was equivalent to a ‘net-worth helicopter money’ strategy – a monetary expansion generating losses to the issuer. We argue that the strategy aimed at reconciling the need to subsidize inhabitants suffering from containment policies with the desire to prevent an increase in long-term government debt, but it generated much monetary instability and had to be quickly reversed. This episode highlights the redistributive implications of the design of macroeconomic policies and the role of political economy factors in determining such designs.

Impact of fiscal and monetary policy on economic growth in Vietnam

This paper uses the Johansen cointegration test and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to study the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on economy growth in Vietnam during the period from quarter I/2004 to quarter II/2013. The results showed the cointegration relation between the macroeconomic policies and economic growth. Besides, the variance decomposition and impulse response functions from VECM model showed the impact of the two policies on economic growth were limited, in which the impact of the monetary policy on growth is greater than that of the fiscal policy on growth. Subsequently, the paper provides some recommendations to improve the efficiency of the implementation of these policies in Vietnam.

On the Reasons of Chinas Stable Economic Development in the XX - XXI Centuries

As is well known, the global economy is a flexible system of relationships between its key actors, and it is directly subject to the constant impact of both internal and external factors. Among the latter are the processes of globalization, integration, liberalization, transnationalization and others. They fundamentally change the rules of organization and conduct of international economic relations. Those countries that were able to duly assess the scale of imminent changes and flexibly respond to them by adjusting national macroeconomic policies were able to take leading positions in the structure of the modern world order. A striking example of such a state is China, which, despite its catching-up type of development, has reached the level of developed countries in a number of indicators and has become one of the significant poles in the structure of the modern world order. The study conducted by the authors of the article showed that the PRC managed to achieve such a result due to the competent reforms initiated in the 1970s by Deng Xiaoping and still ongoing taking into account best world practices. The country’s leadership’s choice of the IT sector as a flagship for further progressive development of the country’s economy has already brought China significant benefits of a strategic nature.

Prediction and caution after COVID-19 crisis: The ecological and epidemiological risks of financial speculation

Since the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, optimistic ecological and economic analyses have arisen. On one hand, the lockdowns that have taken place are pointed out as a means of reducing gas emissions, environmental exploitation, and consequently, factors that reduce the risk of zoonoses. On the other hand, macroeconomic policies that support state intervention in the economy and social benefits are seen as a signal for a more social and eco-friendly organized capitalism. The objective of our article is to call for caution on these predictions, indicating a post-pandemic countertrend according to which the relationship between economy and environment might be even more unstable and conflictual after the pandemic. Here, we discuss the relevance of Karl Marx’s fictitious capital concept as a fundamental key to thinking about financial market pressures on the environment. Hereby, we aim to raise the concern that the financial policies adopted in the course of the crisis have encouraged speculative instruments that lead to the overaccumulation of fictitious capital. This, in turn, requires the increased exploitation and expropriation of the environment in order to realize the overaccumulated rights and claims on future surplus value. Thus, we argue that the risk of environmental destruction will not be reduced as claimed by optimistic assumptions, but on the contrary will increase in the next few years. Such a risk does not dismiss, but rather suggests that new zoonoses may also arise.

Corporate leverage and monetary policy transmission mechanism in India: A dynamic approach.

The macroeconomic policies of a nation have a major bearing on the financial performance of the companies and their potential sustainability and growth. This study investigates the impact of monetary policy on the corporate leverage adjustment through microscopic monetary policy transmission channels, mainly the interest rate and credit channels, using a sample of 422 manufacturing firms in India from 2011 to 2017 by employing partial adjustment model. The findings suggest that contractionary monetary policy cuts down overall corporate debt. The study further asserts that corporate debt in Indian firms demonstrates target behaviour and the speed at which firms adjust their actual debt ratios towards target debt ratios is a function of not only firm-specific characteristics but also macroeconomic conditions prevailing in the country, proxied by monetary policy indicators in our study. The study has critical policy implications as the balance sheet situation of corporates is a crucial factor in the financial stability of the economy.

The Convergence of Macroeconomic Variables within the East Africa Community

This study seeks to establish whether the East African Countries are realizing convergence in their macroeconomic policies as efforts are geared towards the establishment of an economic union and subsequently a monetary union in a bid to foster economic growth in the region. Five EACs were included in the analysis using panel data for the period 2008-2018. The methodology employed in the analysis involved; sigma convergence, beta convergence using fixed-effect model, and finally stochastic convergence was tested. The findings show that there is no evidence of macroeconomic convergence and the less developed countries are neither catching up with the relatively developed countries. The macroeconomic variables are also not showing a tendency to be moving the same direction as time goes by. Therefore, for the EACs to realize a common union, either economic or monetary, they need to formulate policies that will ensure that the member states adhere to the desired macroeconomic policies that would lead the region to convergence.

Monetary Policy Response in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania for Coping with the Pandemic COVID-19 in 2020

This study aims to analyse how the monetary policies of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania, as one of the two critical macroeconomic policies, have reacted in response to COVID-19 for the year 2020. Last year, the year 2020, the pandemic caused these two countries to react through monetary policy. This research examines how central banks of both countries have changed traditional monetary policy tools for tackling the pandemic, starting with open market operations, required reserve ratio, the overnight loans interest rate, and the available deposits interest rate. The research continues with analyzing whether they were used and what non-traditional tools were applied in that period. The study analysis concludes which monetary policies have been pursued in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania, whether there have been non-traditional tools and how the scope for interbank interest rate volatility has changed. Our study revealed that both countries had pursued an expansive monetary policy, there were also non-traditional tools, and the scope for interbank interest rate volatility has shifted towards narrowing. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Development and Economy in Mongolia through a Human Rights Law Lens

This article studies the Mongolian economic and development policies implemented in recent years until March 2020, including its revenue matrix sustainability, from an international human rights law perspective. Policy and legal recommendations for discussion are also presented. Based on a United Nations mission the author conducted to Mongolia in 2019, this country study examines the macroeconomic policies, including debt issues, from a human rights perspective; the extent to which mineral rents are translated into inclusive and comprehensive social and environmental policies, focusing on the mining project Oyu Tolgoi; the impact of illicit financial flows on human rights; and the effects of lending for infrastructure and mining projects and other foreign direct investments. The study concludes that economic diversification and conducting effective gender-sensitive, participatory human rights and environmental impact assessments of economic reforms and mining and infrastructure projects are the main challenges Mongolia faces.

Unemployment in South Africa

South Africa has exhibited sustained high rates of open unemployment since the end of apartheid, when reliable statistical measurements became available. The lack of decent employment opportunities contributes to ongoing social and economic inequalities. This chapter examines the reasons behind the country’s high unemployment rates. After a brief analysis of unemployment trends and patterns, it discusses alternative explanations of South Africa’s employment problems, with a focus on structural causes arising from historical and institutional factors. The chapter also examines how policy choices post-apartheid have affected employment outcomes, including macroeconomic policies, trade policies, and labour market policies.